The series was basically a compendium of every plot device ever used by the X-files. Except without the stupid conspiracy-theory gunk of a subplot. I’m not sure my family had the whole series — probably just eight or nine books — but, man, as an ten-year-old I devoured the books we did have.

Anyway, two Mysteries of the Unknown-type things stuck out in my newsfeed this morning. One, from Pink Tentacle, is a video of a mysterious deep sea creature (jump to 1:44):

Pink Tentacle has posted a fascinating collection of anatomical drawings (in color!) from Edo period Japan. I’ll leave the explanations to the far more qualified folks over at Pink Tentacle, but below I’ve posted a few of the more interesting images.

Warning: If drawings of human anatomy in a distinct Japanese style gross you out, these images will gross you out.

British intelligence services experimented with using semen as an invisible ink to write top-secret letters, it has been disclosed.

A diary entry belonging to a senior member of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) has revealed that during the First World War it was discovered that the bodily fluid could act as an effective invisible ink.

In June 1915, Walter Kirke, deputy head of military intelligence at GHQ France, wrote in his diary that Mansfield Cumming, the first chief (or C) of the SIS was “making enquiries for invisible inks at the London University”.

In October he noted that he “heard from C that the best invisible ink is semen”, which did not react to the main methods of detection. Furthermore it had the advantage of being readily available.

Apparently the agent was later laughed out of his department. And another had to be reminded to use fresh supplies of the ink “when correspondents began noticing an unusual smell.” M6 just became a little bit less badass.

Oct. 10, 2010 (10/10/10, ten-ten-ten, X/X/X) is one of those calendar phenomenon’s that people completely miss orare completely consumed by. Some couples will get married and some women will have babies. I’m just going to watch the first season of “Californication” until my eyes burn.

In September 2007, eighteen months after first receiving his fatal diagnosis, Jordan was buried at Charleston’s St. Stephen’s Church. McDougal wore one of her husband’s black, wide-brimmed hats to the ceremony. The Citadel sent a bagpiper. In the graveyard parking lot, his family gathered around Jordan’s Porsche and listened solemnly to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings. The memorial program read, “He came like the wind, like the wind touched everything, and like the wind was gone.” Once Jordan’s assembled friends, family, and admirers finally cleared out past her home’s dragon-carved gates, McDougal grieved. Then she went looking for a writer to finish what her husband had started.

Working with his colleagues at MEDEA, he’s developed a series of vodka bottles with programmable LED message displays.

Why would you want a flashing message on a bottle?

In the above video Sandy, who is basically an awkward suit with a greased mullet on top, explains his vision. His “passion” is to let vodka drinkers of the future “communicate from a bottle to bottle.”